Not much posted here so here's what we did last weekend:
Rob, Lee, Amber, Amber's dog, and I went to the Gilmore last weekend and camped on-site for a couple of nights for a double show- Saturday was the German car show, Sunday was a British car show. They had 600 cars last year for the German show so it's a big one, they claim the largest in the US. I should have taken more pictures but I didn't.
Anyway, the Gilmore is a world class museum with a whole campus covering dozens of acres and about 15 buildings funded by a guy who sold Upjohn Pharmaceutical way back when. They have camping on-site which is really cheap and convenient with electric up to 40 amp. The bathrooms are brand new and beautiful but no showers. The campus includes about 3 main museum buildings, 3 or 4 repro auto dealerships from the '30's, a Shell station, diner and multiple other smaller barns dedicated to an antique make. It's really something to see if you haven't been there. This is my 5th trip with many to come, and my second time camping. Their activity schedule is full year-round, car shows regularly all summer and even regular presentations all winter. Every building is an exercise not in "how cheap can we build it" but more like "how much money can we spend on this building". They've put up 3 new buildings since I was last there and there's a brand new pavilion that looks more like a church than a pavilion.....
https://gilmorecarmuseum.org/
It was a great weekend, perfect weather, all terrific except Amber's dog died in their bus on the way home. Very sad....
Gilmore Museum, Kalamazoo
Gilmore Museum, Kalamazoo
- Attachments
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- Another auxiliary building.
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- View from the Franklin dealership to the Ford dealership, everything inside is authentic down to the parts department.
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- It's set up as a small town, just beautiful.
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- One of the auxiliary buildings, there are also several.
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- One of the main museum buildings, there are several.
Last edited by Dual Port on Sat Jul 18, 2026 2:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
Re: Gilmore Museum, Kalamazoo
More:
- Attachments
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- A shot of the Porsche group, well attended. I should have taken more pics as I don't even have one of the VWs. There was only one splitty- a twin to my Bus 1.
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- I got a nice shaded spot with electric. The German car show managers wanted me to put my bus in the show (free!) but I had too much camping crap with me and nowhere to put it, and the bus was dirty. I would have felt awkward putting a dirty bus in this show, even if it was patina. I was about 300 yards from the "town" but still had a dozen people walk over to check out the bus and say hi. I love this place.
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- A beautiful example of an early Shell station.
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- An original diner from the '40's moved here from Connecticut and restored, fully functional, serving food and ice cream. There's another spot inside the museum selling sandwiches and stuff, on my last trip I didn't bring food, I just ate from the two diners. This trip I did bring food.
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
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